"We're drawing on the savings account in a pretty significant way and causing some significant damage in some isolated areas of the state," said Dave Orth, a member of the task force that wrote the ACWA report.

Until now, local water agencies largely have resisted all efforts to regulate the operations.

"It's just a sea change in what we've seen over the years," said Lester Snow, executive director of the California Water Foundation and former director of the California Department of Water Resources.

Snow said the attitude change follows recent findings that enough groundwater has been lost in California to fill Lake Tahoe, and the land in some heavily pumped areas of the Central Valley have sunken as much as 30 feet.

"It's like all of us having checkbooks to write on an account that nobody ever balances and nobody ever puts deposits into," Snow told KCRA 3.

In its report, ACWA proposes to establish a set of statewide requirements for water agencies to follow and to define what it means for a groundwater system to be sustainable.

The association also envisions better and enhanced reporting to the state about groundwater supplies and quality.

However, the group rejects direct state management of groundwater, as is the case in every other western state.

"It is such a diverse resource throughout this state that we cannot regulate it or protect it on a one-size-fits-all policy," Orth said.

He said better groundwater management will require more money.

"It's going to be expensive," he said but could not immediately provide estimates.

He said local agencies should be given the authority to raise revenues by charging groundwater pumpers a fee.

Thomas Harter, professor of hydrology at the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, said such fees could prove hard to implement in areas where groundwater has been until now free.

Under Proposition 218, implementing such fees might require a public vote.

Harter said the threat of a state takeover might be necessary to convince local agencies to act.

Jim Brookshire of Roadrunner Drilling and Pumping in Woodland said he is busier now than at any time since the 1970s.

Brookshire said his crews now have to dig deeper and deeper to find usable groundwater -- and local agencies have proven they are unable to manage groundwater effectively.

He said the only solution is for the state to take over groundwater management entirely.

"(In) Oregon, the state owns it. Idaho, the state. Utah, the state. Nevada, the state. Texas, the state. And I just think it needs to be regulated by the state," Brookshire said.

The State Water Resources Control Board has scheduled a workshop on groundwater management for April 16 and is expected to release its own recommendations.

Any action likely would require the approval of the legislature and the governor.

SHOW UP FOR THE MARINERS FIRST TOWN HALL MEETING TO HEAR SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE STOCKTON. -- FOR MARYLL' TOWN HALL MEETING. [CAPTIONING SPONSORED BY SLEEP TRAIN MATTRESS CENTERS, YOUR TICKET TO A BETTER NIGHT'S SLEEP!] A NEW FRONT IS EMERGING IN THE WATER BOARD AT THIS TIME IT'S NOT OVER ANY STREAM OR LAKE BUT RATHER THE WATER BENEATH OUR FEET. FARMS AND COMMUNITIES ARE RACING TO PUMP WATER FROM WELLS. TODAY, THEY REVERSED A DECISION SAYING THE WELL WATER PUMPING NEEDS TO SLOW DOWN. DAVID BIENICK IS LIVE IN SACRAMENTO WITH THE RACE TO PUMP AIR INTO SHOULD PUT ON THE BRAKES. GOOD EVENING, GULSTAN. THIS ONE HERE OFF HIGHWAY 99 IS BEING PUT IN MY THE CITY OF SACRAMENTO. RIGHT NOW, WATER PUMPING IS FREE AND UNREGULATED BUT THAT COULD SOON CHANGE. IN HIS YARD PACKED WITH PIPES, DRILLS, SACKS OF GRAVEL , HE SAYS HE HAS NOT BEEN THIS BUSY AND MORE THAN 30 YEARS. THEY JUST CANNOT DRINK FAST ENOUGH. THE ASSOCIATION AGENCIES ISSUED A WARRANT SAYING IT HAS TO STOP. OTHERWISE, SOME AREAS COULD RUN OUT OF WELL WATER AND IT COULD LITERALLY SINK. WE ARE DRAWING ON OUR SAVINGS ACCOUNT AND A PRETTY SIGNIFICANT WAVE IN SOME ISOLATED AREAS OF THE STATE. CALIFORNIA DOES NOT REGULATE GROUNDWATER. THEY ARE SETTING GUIDELINES FOR LOCAL WATER AGENCIES TO FOLLOW AND LETTING THE STATE BOARD TAKEOVER OPERATIONS IF THEY DO NOT. TO LOCAL AGENCIES SAY THEY WILL NEED MORE MONEY. ONE IDEA TO GET IT IS TO INSTALL METERS ON THE WELLS AND FOR EVERY GALLON, CHARGE A TAX. WE ARE PROBABLY TALKING PENNIES A DAY OR A FEW DOLLARS PER MONTH. OR SING THEM TO PAY FOR SOMETHING THAT UNTIL NOW WAS FREED COULD BE POLITICALLY DIFFICULT IT MIGHT REQUIRE A VOTE. A BETTER SOLUTION WOULD BE FOR THE STATE TO TAKE OVER GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT ENTIRELY. TAXES THOSE STATES, UTAH, NEVADA. LATER THIS MONTH, THE STATE WATER BOARD WILL HOLD A MEETING ABOUT GROUNDWATER AND IS EXPECTED TO RELEASE ITS OWN PLAN FOR HOW TO DO BETTER. LIVE IN SACRAMENTO, KCRA THREE NEWS. THIS SEEMS LIKE NEW GROUND, LIKE WE HAVEN'T SEEN THIS BEFORE ON THIS TYPE OF SCALE, DAVID. THIS TYPE OF GROUNDWATER, THEY SAID IT'S THE EQUIVALENT OF LAKE TAHOE, THE AMOUNT OF WATER IN

From the web

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday that a proposed agreement between world powers and Iran was "a bad deal" that would not stop Tehran from getting nuclear weapons -- but would rather pave its way to getting lots of them and lea...